New Delhi: National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General Abhishek Singh on Tuesday said all those involved in the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak would be "nabbed and jailed", as he defended the agency's decision to cancel the examination. He also announced that the re-examination would be conducted in a fair manner without any additional fee for students.
Addressing the media in the national capital, Singh said the matter had been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after preliminary verification revealed that some questions circulating on mobile phones before the examination matched the actual question paper.
"We have handed over the matter to CBI. All accused will be nabbed and jailed so that the future of students is not adversely impacted. We will conduct a re-exam for students and it will be done in a fair manner," Singh said.
He further announced that candidates would neither be required to pay fresh examination fees nor lose the money paid for the cancelled test.
"We have also decided that we will not charge any additional fee for the re-exam, and we will also refund the fee charged in the first exam," he added.
Explaining the sequence of events that led to the cancellation of the country's largest undergraduate medical entrance examination, Singh said the agency received information from a whistleblower on the night of May 7.
"On the night of 7th May, we received information through a whistleblower that before the exams were conducted, the individual had received a WhatsApp message wherein some questions were matching the exact questions in the exam," he said.
According to Singh, the NTA then began verifying whether the alleged leaked PDFs had been circulated before the examination held on May 3.
"It was our job to verify those allegations and also to verify whether those PDFs were available to anyone before May 3 - the day of the exam. Upon checking, it was found that some questions matched our question paper. It was also found that on May 1 and 2, the PDF was available on the phones of a few people," he stated.
Calling the development a violation of the agency's "zero tolerance policy," Singh said the integrity of the examination process had been compromised, necessitating cancellation of the exam in the interest of students.
"This was against our zero-tolerance policy. This would have impacted the future of students preparing hard for the exam. So, in their interest, we took this step," he said.
Meanwhile, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, earlier in the day, refused to answer questions from the media regarding the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination amid allegations of paper leak and examination irregularities.
Earlier in the day, amid allegations of a paper leak and examination irregularities, the Centre cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 examination conducted on May 3 and announced that the examination would be re-conducted on dates to be notified separately.
The Government also referred the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a comprehensive probe into the allegations.
In a statement, the National Testing Agency said the decision was taken after inputs were examined in coordination with central agencies, and findings shared by law enforcement agencies raised concerns over the integrity of the examination process.
The agency clarified that the registration data, candidature details and examination centres chosen by candidates for the May 2026 cycle would remain valid for the re-test. No fresh registration will be required, and no additional fee will be charged.
NEET-UG, the single entrance examination for admission to MBBS, BDS and other undergraduate medical courses across India, was conducted on May 3 in pen-and-paper mode across more than 5,400 centres in 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. Around 22.79 lakh students appeared for the examination.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
